PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Don't trust anyone over 30
by Chris Holm Monday, Dec. 06, 2004 at 2:02 PM
info@cardinalpoints.net (email address validated)

Troubles with 30 year old WYEP and the exortion, payola indie-promotion dilemma.

The current investigation into extortion and bribes in which Michael Bracy of the Future of Music Coalition stated, "it's a little bit of both."

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6590977?pageid=rs.News&pageregion=double1&rnd=1101330144480&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

..regarding Michele Clark and AAA radio stations similar to WYEP, may be as previously reported only be an obstacle to aritists getting airplay based on merit instead of kickbacks and extortion.

WDST, the station being investigated's, artists may look familiar to many who listen to WYEP. Here's there best of 2003 list.

http://www.wdst.com/playlist.asp

(so much for WYEP's claims of diversity)

Although Bracy and others at the Future of Music Coalition have been working on this problem, their current statement confirms the last article in so far that other scams may surface to keep the rich richer, and those with vision and creativity off the air unless backed by bullying support.

They state,

"FMC must reiterate that the corporations' decisions to sever these ties does little to protect artists and the public from future forms of payola.

To the contrary, radio companies are now partnering directly with labels to create in house promotional activities.

FMC is also concerned that other in-kind exchanges may replace independent promotion and that radio stations
will continue to select recordings for play lists based not on the merits of the recordings but on what the station "receives" in exchange for playing the song.

These in-kind exchanges are more difficult to track by
include a range of possibilities including artists playing for free or for a reduced rate at concerts promoted by the radio stations, or playing only at venues owned by the radio station's parent company in order to receive a
coveted spot on the play list.

These new partnerships may obscurepay-for-play exchanges and temporarily protect the radio companies from payola allegations, but they do nothing to protect the public or insure artists' access to the public airwaves.

In a related story WYEP has repeated their "featured artist" last week, which may have been due to the significantly lower Michele Clark artists being promoted, or to avvoid the appearance of scandal.

Artists affording thousands of freebie CD's to send out to stations in return for prizes or public radio listener membership incentives may be one of WYEP's tricks up their sleeve. When a better CD is recieved, it is banned from airplay and it's airspace given to the label that can produce the most swag.

As far as concerts go, WYEP is quite connected with local venues, and may also play the artists that do free listener shows over better artists as well. Wyep has also had board members of local cultural arts organizations that do shows as well. The station also has unusual weight with the Three Rivers Arts fest.

Yet the formulaic, sound alike, non-offensive mush they play can not be described as art as much as commerce.

A big problem in turning this tide is Joe. Q. Public who listens to music for it's genre nature that gives them some form of social acceptance to some herd as apposed to actual creative appreciation, which can be summed up simpler as "sell out music" or monkey see monkey do music making.

The damage WYEP has caused is that of constantly pummeling the wannabe sophiticates of Pittsburgh with statements like "we play the best of" this or that, this or that artist "always plays a great show".

WYEP has successfully conned Pittsburghers into thinking that they're not listening to maybe not top 40, but top 40 sounding artists that don't make the top 40 stations playlists due to an already full playlist.

They have decieved Pittsburghers into thinking they're listing to art, and eventhough they claim "life begins after top 40", they still play numerous top 40 acts like U2, Sheryl Crow,, Dave Mathews, Coldplay, John Mayer, and Jason Mraz.

Now that it may come out that the Norah Joneses, Ziggy Marleys, Jesse Malins, Jamie Cullums, Kasey Chambers and 100's of other core artists that WYEP chose over other artists to get the lion's share of promotion, recieved illegal favorable treatment and promotion, and that WYEP and many other public and commercial AAA stations have colored colored contemporary music as bland mediocrity, the only way to undo this scenario is to inform their listener base of what has transpired, regardless of their degree of involvment, and go back over this span of years in the dark and promote the more deserving artists they kicked to the curb and who now may be at the brink of starvation, artisticly speaking.

For those of you without an insider's view of the music industry, I'll let you in on a little secret. Artists recieve close to nothing from CD sales.

"records were seen as a promotional device to help your career, and because it was the only way to get on the radio or have a display presence in shops"

-Richard Thompson

http://www.richardthompsonforcompletists.com/

I've also spoke to artists like Bob Mould who recieved "not a dime" from selling about 1/4 of a million of one album.

Significant airplay that promotes healthy tours is how artists survive as artists.

For you cynics who think, "why should I care about dirty artists and if they get money to live off of or not", ask yourself this. How much time a year do you spend in the doctor's office vs. how much time you spend listening to music? Remember also that almost every great artist (like the Beatles) was once in such a predicament.

A cheap, quality CD can cost over $10,000, a descent band can have 50,000 dollars worth of equipment onstage just belonging to a guitarist, bassist and drummer. It may not be a $100,000 education, but there's no financial aid or grants either.

Many artists don't care about the millions of dollars, but just want to be able to make a living like anyone else, yet in an outrageously wealthy industry, there is little middle class for musicians and a disproportionately low rate of those with even health insurance.

But if this style of business ethic grows and isn't exposed, soon students with educations may find themselves losing out when applying to jobs to others less qualified with more money to bride those doing the hiring at any company, and it may also become standard practice that only the rich or those backed by the rich have a shot at success in our country.

Many current artists wishing to branch out into more artistic offerings may be compromising their true sound to sound like whatever current industry flavored strong hold is in place as well.

But for now WYEP has lured and trained Pittsburgh's ears to accept style over substance fluff.

Now that they've suckered in these dependant thinkers, it appears they're not going to do what's ethical, rather keep playing other sound alike schlock in hopes of keeping their spoon fed listeners that think that cliche'sounds equal something worth supporting altruistically.

With a near 3 million dollar new invetment waiting in the wings, do you think they'll say, "Sorry that stuff we've said was so good for over the past 3 years is really second rate mediocrity?"

It looks like they're choosing to gamble this story won't make it to the ears of most of Pittsburgh, and with media like the Post Gazzette and City Paper and their ties to the station, it probably may not.



"Humanity needs practical men, who get the most out of their work, and, without forgetting the general good, safeguard their own interests. But humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit.
Without doubt, these dreamers do not deserve wealth, because they do not desire it. Even so, a well-organized society should assure to such workers the efficient means of accomplishing their task, in a life freed from material care and freely consecrated to research." -- Marie Curie


This is a follow up to the following articles.

http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/6612.php

http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/8827.php

http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/9049.php

http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/16339.php

http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/16659.php

www.cardinalpoints.net

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